Editorial: USDA case a reminder to try to get facts first

Friday

Jul 23, 2010 at 12:01 AMJul 23, 2010 at 11:14 PM

Beware that story on the Internet that seems too sensational to be true. It may well be. We refer to this week's brouhaha involving a U.S. Agriculture Department official who was effectively fired after a video surfaced on a prominent conservative website showed her saying - or seeming to say - that she didn't work as hard to help white farmers who needed assistance. Shirley Sherrod, who is black, was the coordinator of rural development in the state of Georgia for the USDA when she gave the speech in March at a gathering of the local NAACP.

Beware that story on the Internet that seems too sensational to be true. It may well be.

We refer to this week's brouhaha involving a U.S. Agriculture Department official who was effectively fired after a video surfaced on a prominent conservative website showed her saying - or seeming to say - that she didn't work as hard to help white farmers who needed assistance. Shirley Sherrod, who is black, was the coordinator of rural development in the state of Georgia for the USDA when she gave the speech in March at a gathering of the local NAACP.

Problem is, the online version had been edited. Listening to the whole speech makes it clear Sherrod had been making the opposite point, that she had fought against old, ingrained prejudices brought on by her own experiences but had come to the conclusion that she had been unfairly viewing matters in a racial context and needed to stop and focus on the problem - poverty - that linked everyone who came to her office for aid, regardless of race. The events she was recounting actually took place in the mid-1980s when she worked for a not-for-profit - not the federal government. The white family in question has come to her defense, talking about how grateful they still are for her assistance in saving their farm.

Alas, few bothered to get those facts before rushing to judgment. The story got legs when other media outlets - notably Fox News - picked it up, with many demanding Sherrod be axed. The NAACP even agreed she should be dismissed. USDA officials reportedly all but ordered her to submit a resignation, which she did, before then proceeding to defend herself. Now, amid more than a few blushes, her bosses have offered to let her come back to work in a new job. President Obama and USDA chief Tom Vilsack have both personally apologized. Sherrod says she may not return to work for Uncle Sam, given how she's been treated. Who can blame her?

There is no shortage of folks to blame here. Start with the owner of the conservative website, Andrew Breitbart, and other media outlets that didn't bother to verify their information. Everybody makes mistakes, but there's a difference between that and being willfully wrong because the facts don't fit with your agenda. Did that happen here? Breitbart remains largely unapologetic, at this writing, and Sherrod is talking lawsuit.

Move on to the NAACP that threw Sherrod under the bus. Its leaders may have been trying to practice what they'd just preached - demanding tea party groups disavow racist comments by members - but that doesn't excuse them from the need to get the facts first, especially about something that happened at one of their events. Perhaps most of all, fault Vilsack and the Obama administration, for bowing to the public outcry without bothering to get Sherrod's side of things or in any way doing any due diligence before demanding she quit ... or else.

Sure, it's easy to go off half-cocked when you hear something that just strikes you as blatantly inappropriate. It's easier still when the comments come on a sensitive topic like race relations. May this be a lesson learned, then, in an era of 24-hour cable news rushing to fill an endless demand for stories, hyperpartisan talk radio and shady websites that level all matter of accusation without checking first. Simply because a story may fit into one's preconceived notions, or come from a commentator one usually agrees with, does not always make it true.

Not only does that rush to judgment leave a great many folks looking foolish, it can do some very real damage to people's lives.